[[quoteright:267:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pages_of_harmony___cover_thing_by_warriorsparrow-d4tsou4_png_2816.jpeg]][[caption-width-right:267:There's a darker side to harmony...]]

The Elements of Harmony. For generations these ancient artifacts have served as the physical manifestations of Equestria's most important principles: Loyalty, honesty, generosity, kindness, laughter, and the magic of friendship itself. However, only specific ponies are capable of harnessing the Elements' power and little information on them exists in Equestrian literature. And many questions remain unanswered, but there is one above all else: what qualities, spiritual or biological, are needed to allow a pony to control the artifacts representing the Elements that protect the world, and thus assure that the world is not destroyed by the seeds of chaos? What does it take to keep harmony secure?

Twilight Sparkle doesn't know, but she intends to find out by creating her own research on the Elements and their bearers in order to achieve her own WellIntentionedExtremist goals. But how far will she go to preserve harmony and protect the future, and how will the fate of her friends play into it?

[[EvilutionaryBiologist Research]], [[ColdBloodedTorture procedures from]] [[MindRape the pits of Tartarus]], and a "harmonious plan" that [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans promises to bring about a new world]], that's what.

Started on July 25, 2012, by Shadowed Rainbow, Pages of Harmony is a grimdark ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic and contains extremely graphic content. The story itself can be read [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/5882/pages-of-harmony here ]], a reading is [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWzw-htT_KY here]], and a short movie trailer can also be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIw8QmE8pr8 here ]]. But BE WARNED you'd better know what you're getting into.

Also has a series of text-based AskAPony blogs: [[http://askempresstwilight.tumblr.com/ Twilight herself]] (done by the author), [[http://askharmonysstudents.tumblr.com/ some of Twilight's followers]], [[http://askthepath.tumblr.com/ some of Twilight's opposers]], and [[http://askbrokenandeadfluttershy.tumblr.com/ Fluttershy]]. Be warned, though they are AU to the main fic, it takes place after Chapter 12, so expect MAJOR spoilers if you haven't gotten to that point.

Has been completed as of October 2014. The Sequel, Empress of Harmony, can be read [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/221212/empress-of-harmony here]], and has a trope page of its own [[FanFic/EmpressOfHarmony here]].

----!!Pages of Harmony contains examples of:* AfterlifeAntechamber: The bearers of the Elements that Twilight kills end up being sent here, able to communicate with Twilight when they directly speak to her.* AndIMustScream: Rainbow Dash would like nothing other than to be able to kill Twilight, but seeing as she can't interact with her as a spirit, it only serves to make her angrier.* AxCrazy: Twilight Sparkle. [[spoiler:And Rainbow Dash after her MindRape.]]* BadDreams: Twilight begins suffering from them after killing [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash]], beginning the cycle of communicating with her other victims as they're killed. ** This happens to Apple Bloom as well, right before she discovers that [[spoiler: Applejack is missing]].* [[spoiler:TheBadGuyWins]]* BerserkButton: Never suggest to Twilight that what she's doing is like Discord, or she'll attempt to attack you even if you're a manifestation of her conscience visible only to her. * [[BigShutUp Big]] "'''''[[BigShutUp SHUT UP!]]'''''": Twilight shouts this at [[IgnoredEpiphany her conscience-self]] after the insistence that what she's doing is wrong.* BodyHorror: When Twilight [[spoiler:becomes Harmony Incarnate in chapter 12]]* BreakTheCutie: WordOfGod says that Fluttershy gets the worst of Twilight's experiments because her Element is the hardest to break. Also, for a more meta reason, because Fluttershy getting hurt is generally considered [[LogicalWeakness the fandom's collective weakness]].* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Twilight herself betrays all of her friends, one by one.* ColdBloodedTorture: No, really?* TheConscience: Rather than being a specific other character that is this in a narrative sense, Twilight's ''literal'' conscience manifests as another version of herself, who retains Twilight's normal appearence despite the MadnessMakeover and SanitySlippage that the real Twilight progressively goes through, attempting (and failing) to act as a MoralityChain* DarkerAndEdgier: As of chapter 10, the story seems to be headed this way. [[FromBadToWorse No,]] ''[[FromBadToWorse really]]''. [[spoiler:What seemingly started out as a simple gorefic in the vein of ''{{Cupcakes}}'' is now revealed to be a story about Twilight Sparkle trying to TakeOverTheWorld (or rather, the ''universe'') and commit genocide on any living thing without the capacity for the Elements of Harmony.]] The worst part of that is [[spoiler: she ''denies'' that her plan is morally wrong and refers to it as "cleansing" and [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans being for the good of harmony]]]].** The sequel looks like it's going to be headed in this direction in comparison to its predecessor, despite the lower rating. [[spoiler:That "cleansing" for the good of harmony? ''We're going to see it all happen.'']]* DarkFic: The whole. Entire. THING. As said by one person on dA, it "makes {{Cupcakes}} look like [[BarneyAndfriends Barney]]". * EnemyWithin: Subversion - Twilight sees her ''conscience'' as this, seeing it as an interference in her plan, even though her conscience is in fact attempting to steer her back on the right path. * ElaborateUndergroundBase: Twilight's laboratory underneath her library is definitely this. As of Chapter 10, we see the contents of two rooms (one being her main laboratory work area), but there are many other doors down there that the reader has ''no idea'' what's in them at this point, or how far it goes.* ElectricTorture: Used on [[spoiler: Applejack]] as a form of conditioning to [[spoiler: make her lie and thus lose her Element]].It also gets used briefly on [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash earlier in the story as a method of shattering her loyalty.]] * [[HumanResources Equine Resources]]: Twilight separates the body parts of her friends after they die to preserve their bodies as books. * EvilCounterpart: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Twilight, the VillainProtagonist, is introduced first, while her [[TheConscience mirror-image conscience]] begins to show up around Chapter 4, trying to get her to see the error of her ways.* EvilutionaryBiologist: Guess* EyeScream: When Twilight tortures [[spoiler: Sweetie Belle and then brainwashes Rarity into killing the little filly.]] Fluttershy also gets [[spoiler: a hot plate pressed against her eye]] as part of the procedure to extract her Element.* FlayingAlive: Done to each one of the other Element-bearers in the form of scalping, but done in a more complete sense to [[spoiler: Spike]].* ForScience: Twilight uses this to justify what she's doing, claiming her experiments are necessary to strengthen Equestria's defense mechanism of friendship and harmony.* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash]] is the most evident example. After Twilight uses mental manipulation on her to [[spoiler: rewrite her memories and destroy any sense of loyalty, and she dies soon after]], she swears to get revenge on Twilight by getting her to die and burn in [[{{Hell}} Tartarus]] for all eternity.* FromBadToWorse: Thought Twilight just wanted to isolate the elements from her friends by breaking their spirits, right? Well, [[spoiler:turns out she won't be finished until she's wiped out every single organism without the proper genetic traits for harmony.]]* GlasgowGrin: Dear GOSH poor [[spoiler: Sweetie Belle]]. The way that Twilight delivers lines right before it only makes it worse: -->'''Twilight:''' Pinkie knows that smiling helps ponies be happy, and it's a fact. (leans closer) Now go on, ''smile''. It'll help you feel better. (after [[spoiler: Sweetie Belle]] doesn't smile) ''You're not smiling!''* {{Gorn}}: Quite a bit of the ENTIRE fanfic up to its current point (Chapter 12 currently, ending the Extraction Arc) - in a very scientific matter. The gore always has a purpose in context however, and the meticulousness of it just makes things worse.* '''''[[GrimDark GRIMDARK AS TARTARUS]]'''''.* HopeSpot: Rainbow Dash has one after Twilight finishes using a machine to briefly electrocute her. [[spoiler:Only for Twilight to reveal she was testing it to make sure it can administer jolts of electricity to Dash's brain properly]].* {{Hypocrite}}: Twilight claims that she's ridding Equestria of all evil when all she's doing is actually making things worse.* IgnoredEpiphany: Twilight ignores her conscience after she starts her plans of taking the Elements.* [[ImAHumanitarian I'm an Equinitarian]]: [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash as a result of Twilight using her MindRape techniques]]. * [[spoiler: ImmortalitySeeker]]: Twilight plans to [[spoiler: become immortal after instituting her new world order, simply because ''she's afraid her successors won't use the same methods.'']]* MadnessMakeover: As the fic progresses, Twilight goes from her normal-looking self to a disheveled-looking, pinprick-eyed LaughingMad mare.* MadScientist: Twilight Sparkle, to the extent of [[spoiler:experimenting on her friends to extract their Elements]]. And it's implied with her talk of purity that her plan goes ''beyond that''... [[spoiler: which is eventually confirmed]] * MadScientistLaboratory: Twilight has one directly below her library which she uses to perform her research.* MindRape: Happens multiple times, each with its own horrifying twist. * [[spoiler: MultiversalConqueror]]: [[spoiler: Twilight aspires to be this - though she'd prefer to use the word "Cleanser", as she sees her actions as being [[ForGreatJustice for the greater good]]]].* ANaziByAnyOtherName: [[spoiler:Twilight. After she figures out what the genetic component for the Elements of Harmony is, her plan is to commit total genocide on anything without those genes, in a matter suspiciously (and [[WordOfGod deliberately]]) similar to the Holocaust. ''On a universal level.'' And, if it exists, the '''''multiverse''''']].* NecessarilyEvil: Twilight genuinely believes that [[spoiler:killing her friends, extracting their Elements from them, and killing off everything without the potential to exhibit them will destroy chaos and allow harmony to reign]].* OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:Rainbow Dash actually refers to Twilight as this in chapter 10, although technically Twilight doesn't want to destroy ''everything'' - just everything without the right genes for the Elements. Then again, Rainbow Dash tries to refer to Twilight in any negative light she can, whether it's true or not.]] * PlayingWithSyringes: Twilight Sparkle, and each of them does something completely different. * RedOniBlueOni: [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash]] is the red to Twilight's blue, though the character alignment is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] with Twilight being the more villainous of the two.* SanitySlippage: Twilight's sanity starts to noticeably decline as the story progresses. * SchizoTech: Twilight's hidden laboratory.* ShoutOut: During Rainbow Dash's {{Mind Rape}} torture, [[spoiler: the story slightly mentions both ''FanFic/RainbowFactory'' and ''FanFic/{{Cupcakes}}'', two other well-known gorefics. While Cupcakes is only slightly alluded to with Pinkie in one of Rainbow's MindRape visions threatening to hack her wings off, the Rainbow Factory mention is quite blatant... and it makes everything much worse]]. ** In a non-MLP example, Pinkie's gesture language and Rainbow Dash's interpretation of it is an reference to Literature/HarounAndTheSeaOfStories, when Mudra the Shadow Warrior communicates to the Storyteller Rashid in this manner. * ShownTheirWork: The amount of research put into this fic is astonishing. To elaborate it describes actual scientific procedures and forms of torture, among other things.* SlasherSmile: Twilight has one and it's always present during one of her experiments. * SpiderSense: Pinkie's "Pinkie Sense" makes an appearance when her pinchy knee tries to signify something scary's going on. Unfortunately, by the time she's figured out what it is [[spoiler: it's too late for Rainbow Dash... and her]].* SpiritualSuccessor: Possibly to The experiments of Twilight Sparkle. Albeit a much better written one* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Twilight restrains her friends in this manner so she can [[spoiler: experiment on them and remove their Elements]]. * SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Everything having to do with Twilight's Element-Analysis.* TalkingInYourDreams: The ponies that Twilight takes their Elements from communicate with her in this way. * [[spoiler: TakeOverTheWorld]]: Twilight's Plan as of Chapter 10. [[spoiler: And it goes even further than that]].* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: Twilight does this to [[spoiler:Applejack]]. Complete with 1984-esque ElectricTorture.* VillainProtagonist: Twilight, obviously. [[spoiler: Rainbow Dash]] is a secondary example of this.* TheVoiceless: Pinkie forcibly becomes this when she [[spoiler: has her larynx ripped out]]. * WellIntentionedExtremist: Twilight's goal to preserve harmony in Equestria is admirable. Unfortunately her methods are anything ''but'' admirable.* WhamEpisode: Chapter 10. Suffice to say, Twilight's plan isn't what it seems from the early chapters. It's ''ten times worse.''* WouldHurtAChild:Two of the characters that have been killed by Twilight have been [[spoiler:Sweetie Belle and Spike.]] Not because they were essential to Twilight's plan, but because Twilight thought [[HeKnowsTooMuch they posed a potential threat to her.]]----